All we have to do is read the letters of secession from the slave holding states. They tell us why they seceded, and it was over slavery. We can read the Constitution of the Confederate States, and find slavery mentioned ten times, enshrining it in the highest law of that land.

The "lost cause" is an uncivil demand to remain an infant, and an uncivil demand that others shoulder a disproportionate burden of coming to terms with the sins of this country.